Bankruptcy Law
Professor Stephen Lubben
In the best of times, a fundamental understanding of bankruptcy law is important. In today’s economy, it’s critical. Bankruptcy law is an integral part of Seton Hall Law’s corporate and transactional law academic pathway. Professor Stephen Lubben, who is regularly quoted internationally regarding corporate finance, corporate debt, financial distress, and reorganization, both teaches bankruptcy law and monitors and reports on bankruptcy trends worldwide.
In 2008 Professor Lubben, the Daniel J. Moore Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law served as the principal investigator for the American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) leading empirical study of professional fees in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. In the most comprehensive analysis to date of Chapter 11 bankruptcies, Professor Lubben and his team of investigators found that the presence of creditors’ committees, judge-appointed examiners, and first-day motions, rather than the length of bankruptcy cases, are more likely to impact costs.
Professor Lubben commented, “Chapter 11 costs are largely the function of the size of the debtor and the complexity of its case. The jurisdiction the case files in or the law firm that represents the debtor does not have any independent significance in predicting costs.”
Funded by the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), the study examined the professional fees of more than 1,000 Chapter 11 cases filed in 2004. Professor Lubben, who served as lead reporter, was assisted by a six-member advisory panel.
“The fee study represents the most comprehensive set of data of a large sample of Chapter 11 cases ever compiled by an independent empirical study,” noted Claude “Chip” Bowel Jr., Chair of the ABI’s Professional Fee Study Advisory Board. “The high quality and vast quantity of data gathered by the fee study shows that the ABI’s faith in the project and the reporter was well placed.”